0:01:13 > 0:01:17If you spend your life clambering about in trees,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19two of the most useful things to have
0:01:19 > 0:01:23are a pair of hands, with which to grip the branches,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and a pair of eyes, which face forward
0:01:26 > 0:01:28and both can focus on the same thing
0:01:28 > 0:01:32so that you can accurately judge the distance of, say,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36the next branch on which you want to jump or swing.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39There are about 200 different kinds of animals in the world
0:01:39 > 0:01:42that have those two characteristics.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45We group them together and call them primates,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and they include monkeys, apes, man...
0:01:51 > 0:01:53..and those creatures over there,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56that I'm watching in this tree in Madagascar.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07At first sight, this animal doesn't look much like a monkey.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11That bushy, ringed tail is more like a cat's.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21And the long snout, with moist, bare skin around the nostrils,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23gives it a rather dog-like look.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26But its hands give away its true character.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29No dog or cat has a grasp like this.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37This creature is a true primate and one of the most primitive ones.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It's a lemur.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Lemurs are descended from shrew-like mammals
0:02:51 > 0:02:55that scampered along the ground at the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57And this lemur, the ring-tail,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01is as much at home on the ground as it is in the trees.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05They still retain old habits more suited for ground-dwelling,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07like scent-marking.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11The males have horny spurs on their wrists, surrounded by glands.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And they click these against saplings,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17so impregnating the scratch with musk.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23The female smears musk from a gland beneath her tail.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Males find this especially attractive.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Having checked, he marks over the same spots himself.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Frequent marking enables a troop
0:03:46 > 0:03:48to leave a scent record of its movements,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and so establish rights of way on the forest floor.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59An angry male spreads scent onto his tail
0:03:59 > 0:04:01by drawing it over his wrist and chest glands,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04for perfume is also used in the battle for dominance.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13He will then thrash it in the air
0:04:13 > 0:04:17so that the scent is wafted towards his opponent, to intimidate him.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26The lower male recharges his tail.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Grasping hands, so valuable to the adult
0:04:33 > 0:04:37for holding on to branches, are also useful to the young.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Baby squirrels and tree shrews, with straightforward paws,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43have to be deposited in nests of some kind
0:04:43 > 0:04:46and are often abandoned while the parents gather food.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48But lemurs have a different technique.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51The little ones can close their fists on their parents' fur
0:04:51 > 0:04:54and so accompany them wherever they go.
0:05:01 > 0:05:08Lemurs were in their heyday about 40 to 50 million years ago.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13Their fossils have been found in not only Africa, but Europe.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14And about that time,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Madagascar became separated from the east coast of Africa.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21There were lemurs living there, too, of course,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24but because they were now living on an island,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26they were protected from competition
0:05:26 > 0:05:29with other, more intelligent, more efficient creatures
0:05:29 > 0:05:32that were to develop elsewhere in the world later.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37And so Madagascar became what it is now, a paradise for lemurs.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42As well as the ring-tail, there are over 20 different kinds of lemurs,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46each one adapted to a particular kind of life in the trees.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51Down here in the south of the island, in this extraordinary spiny forest,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53there is one that specialises in jumping.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It's called a sifaka.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05And you could hardly fine a better demonstrator
0:06:05 > 0:06:08of those two invaluable primate talents,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10the ability to judge the distance of a jump
0:06:10 > 0:06:13and to grasp a hold when you land.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04The disproportionately long hind legs
0:07:04 > 0:07:07that enable them to jump between trees so well
0:07:07 > 0:07:09make walking on all fours impossible.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Another accomplished leaper
0:07:31 > 0:07:34lives in the forests of north-east Madagascar,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37but there it's more often heard than seen.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40HAUNTING CALLS ECHO
0:07:40 > 0:07:42The indri, the largest of the lemurs.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46And it's no accident that it has a well-developed voice.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51MOURNFUL CALLS CONTINUE
0:08:02 > 0:08:05The thick canopy, in which the indri lives,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07has turned it into a chorister.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Perhaps scent is too easily dispersed up here.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13It's certainly difficult to see far.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15So, safe from attack by predators,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18it's much easier and more effective to use sound
0:08:18 > 0:08:21to carry messages through the forest, to claim a territory
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and register your whereabouts with your neighbours.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35And few creatures do so more deafeningly than a family of indris.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38IT WAILS LOUDLY
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Other lemurs also use their voices to keep in touch with the troop.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57These are brown lemurs.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00IT GRUNTS
0:09:05 > 0:09:07They often travel with the ring-tails,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10which supplement their elaborate system of scent signals
0:09:10 > 0:09:12with a repertoire of calls,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15especially when the troop is on the move.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18LEMURS GRUNT AND CALL
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Out in the open, where they're more at risk,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26the ring-tails keep together
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and raise their vividly-marked tails like flags,
0:09:29 > 0:09:30so that the members of the troop
0:09:30 > 0:09:33can also maintain visual contact with one another.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48This troop is going down to the river to drink.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07LEMURS CHATTER AND CALL
0:10:07 > 0:10:09As darkness approaches,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12the forest rings to the sound of the lemur groups,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16spacing themselves out as they settle down in the trees to sleep.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20A VARIETY OF LEMURS CALL
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Many lemurs are nocturnal, and when darkness falls
0:10:28 > 0:10:31a completely new cast of them appears.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33This is the smallest of all, little bigger than a mouse,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and CALLED a mouse lemur.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43It eats insects as well as seeds and fruit
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and enthusiastically marks its own section of a tree
0:10:46 > 0:10:47by urinating on its hands
0:10:47 > 0:10:51and planting smelly hand-prints all along the branches.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57The rarest lemur, the aye-aye.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59It may be on the verge of extinction.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02A few still survive, but no-one knows how many.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It's the oddest of the lot,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11gnawing into wood to expose beetle grubs.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It also has a taste for egg yolk, which it gets
0:11:14 > 0:11:17by using its extraordinary long, bony middle finger as a probe.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31In all, there are some 20 different species of lemur
0:11:31 > 0:11:33still surviving in Madagascar.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Elsewhere in the world, however, the lemurs died out.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It seems they couldn't face the competition
0:11:41 > 0:11:45from more advanced primates that were to develop later -
0:11:45 > 0:11:46the monkeys.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49That competition only came during the day
0:11:49 > 0:11:53because, with one exception, all monkeys sleep at night.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59And so the lemurs were able to survive by being nocturnal.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01In Africa, there are the bushbabies,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03which are very similar to the mouse lemurs of Madagascar.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05There's also the potto.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09And here, in the forests of the Far East, in Malaysia,
0:12:09 > 0:12:10there's the loris.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Once again, it has those primate hallmarks -
0:12:17 > 0:12:21the forward-facing eyes and the grasping hands.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30This is a young one. It had a firm grip right from birth,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33and it uses it, as nearly all lemur babies do,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35to cling to its mother's fur.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47The loris still uses scent to mark its territory,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and it has the typical moist nose of a lemur,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53with which to read the marks in the trees.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Only one primitive primate has no such nose,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08and it, too, lives in these oriental forests. The tarsier.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12For it, the dominant sense is not smell, but sight.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Its huge eyes and snub nose, without a surround of moist skin,
0:13:21 > 0:13:22are signs of things to come,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26for these are the characteristics of the more advanced primates
0:13:26 > 0:13:29that displaced the lemurs and their relations from most of the world -
0:13:29 > 0:13:30the monkeys.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38The most primitive of the true monkeys still surviving
0:13:38 > 0:13:41live in the jungles of South America.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Marmosets move about not at night, but during the day.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48At first glance, they don't look like monkeys,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51but scurry around the treetops more like squirrels.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56They use visual signals a great deal.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Each species carries its own badges of identification -
0:14:00 > 0:14:02moustaches, bonnets and plumes,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05or, like these common marmosets, long, white ear tufts.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Although they eat fruit and insects, most of their food consists of gum,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16which they tap by gnawing notches in bark.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Their gum trees are important features of their territories
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and must be protected at all costs.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And the marmosets do this by marking them with scented urine.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Each territory is occupied
0:14:43 > 0:14:46by an adult male and female together their young,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49some of which may be nearly full-grown.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50They all travel together
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and defend the boundaries against neighbouring families.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Sometimes shrieking will scare off trespassers.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00HIGH-PITCHED SQUEAKS
0:15:02 > 0:15:04And, if that fails, they back up their threat
0:15:04 > 0:15:07with a truly spectacular genital display.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13To marmosets, this is the ultimate threat,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and the trespassing family nearly always withdraws.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23So, through the evolution of a language of signals,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26damaging fights are more often than not avoided.
0:15:36 > 0:15:37Like lemur babies,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41young marmosets have got a firm and determined grasp,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and they cling to their parents right from birth.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Often it's the male who carries them,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48but again, like the lemurs,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52the youngsters tend to move around a good deal, from one adult to another,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and even onto the backs of their older brothers and sisters.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58And a particularly patient and long-suffering one
0:15:58 > 0:16:00will accumulate a heavy load.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27The grasping hands, so good at clinging to fur and branches,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30are also excellent combs.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32The nimble fingers are used for picking parasites
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and loose skin from the fur of others.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Marmosets are the smallest of the monkeys
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and, in many ways, they represent a link
0:16:41 > 0:16:44between lemurs and other monkeys like these.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52The squirrel monkey, also a South American,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55is a typical member of the monkey family.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56Active during the day,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59relying more on its eyes and ears than its nose
0:16:59 > 0:17:03for finding its way about and for communicating with its fellows.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Lively, gymnastic and totally at home in the trees.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26There are about 70 different species of monkey in South America alone.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29None of them is better adapted to life in the trees
0:17:29 > 0:17:31than these howlers.
0:17:34 > 0:17:35They sleep in the treetops
0:17:35 > 0:17:39with a confident disregard for height and the risk of falling,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and they usually wait for the sun to get well up
0:17:42 > 0:17:43before they bother to stir.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47THEY GRUNT
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Then they begin to demonstrate why they get their name.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07HOARSE HOWLING
0:18:12 > 0:18:17THE HOWLING GETS LOUDER
0:18:45 > 0:18:49The howlers and that most tree-loving of lemurs, the indri,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52have both discovered that the most efficient way
0:18:52 > 0:18:56to lay claim to a large area of the treetops is to sing.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59The howlers have taken the technique to extremes -
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Their chorus is said to be the loudest noise made by any mammal.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07With a favourable wind, you can hear them five kilometres away.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12These are the biggest and heaviest monkeys in South America,
0:19:12 > 0:19:1520 times the weight of a marmoset.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17There seems to be a tendency among primates,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21as in most mammals, to become larger and larger.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24This may be because when males dispute over females,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26the biggest one, from sheer strength,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30is likely to win and so will father bigger babies.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34But an increase in size, when you live in trees, has one drawback -
0:19:34 > 0:19:37it becomes increasingly difficult to reach the outer branches
0:19:37 > 0:19:42to gather fruit and leaves or to move from one tree to another.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The howlers have a way of reducing the problem,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49an additional climbing aid of marvellous effectiveness,
0:19:49 > 0:19:50a grasping tail.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21They need to be very agile, for they are total vegetarians,
0:20:21 > 0:20:22and the best fruit and leaves
0:20:22 > 0:20:26are always at the farthest end of the branches.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Like all monkeys, their sense of smell is relatively dull.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51So, to tell whether a fruit is ripe or not,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55they have to hold it very close to the nose and give it a good sniff.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Some, though, are less fussy than others.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34A howler selects fruit not only by smell, like a lemur,
0:21:34 > 0:21:35but by its colour.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38That is something that no lemur can do.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Most of them are virtually colour-blind.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44But all the monkeys scampering about in the sunshine
0:21:44 > 0:21:46have very good colour vision indeed.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And that has allowed them to use colour in their body language.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54In fact, monkeys are the most vividly colourful of all mammals.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23The monkeys' exploitation of colour is a worldwide characteristic.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30But, from other points of view, there are considerable differences
0:22:30 > 0:22:34between those species that live in South America
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and those that live in the rest of the world.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Here in Africa,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46the monkeys also developed into a multitude of different kinds.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49But, for some reason that we don't really understand,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52many species came down from the trees
0:22:52 > 0:22:56and were almost as happy on the ground as they were in the branches.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Like, for example, these vervets.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06This readiness to leave the trees may be something to do with the fact
0:23:06 > 0:23:08that, for some reason, no African monkeys
0:23:08 > 0:23:11have managed to develop that South American innovation,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13the grasping tail.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17So they never became so extremely adapted to a tree-living life,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20or so thoroughly at home there. At any rate, the mere fact
0:23:20 > 0:23:24that there are monkeys foraging over this grassland
0:23:24 > 0:23:27is enough to tell you that this is an African scene.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32There are lots of grasslands in South America,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35but there are no monkeys wandering over them, like these.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43There's even one kind of African monkey
0:23:43 > 0:23:47that instead of always seeking safety in trees when danger threatens,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49on occasion does just the reverse.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54BABOONS CHATTER AND HOWL
0:24:03 > 0:24:05These are baboons.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08The physical talents that their ancestors developed in the trees
0:24:08 > 0:24:11are still very useful on the ground.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The young baboon still clings to its mother's fur,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and as it gets older, rides on her back like a jockey.
0:24:21 > 0:24:27Their grasping hands can pick up, pull up and dig up most things.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30And baboons have developed a taste for a wide variety of food.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Not only the standard and typical monkey diet of fruit and leaves,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37but roots and insects, and red meat,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40in the form of lizards and small rodents,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42and even other monkeys, if they can catch them.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Male baboons have grown big and powerful
0:24:47 > 0:24:49in order to defend themselves and their troop.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58But down on the ground there is also danger.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07The big males keep order with visual signals.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09BABOONS CALL AND GRUNT
0:25:17 > 0:25:21The eyebrow flash is usually quite sufficient as a threat.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Though, every now and then,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27it has to be backed up with a more obvious show of strength.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29BABOONS SHRIEK AND CHATTER
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Several other species of monkey, as well as the baboon,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45have become very efficient at living on the ground.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50One has even left Africa and emigrated to Europe.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53The Rock of Gibraltar has been the home of troops of macaque monkeys
0:25:53 > 0:25:55for about 2,000 years.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58It's true that, in recent times, the British army
0:25:58 > 0:26:02has imported fresh stock from North Africa when numbers got low,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and it seems likely that the very first ones here
0:26:04 > 0:26:08were brought over from Africa as pets by Roman soldiers.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12It says a lot for these monkeys that they've managed to survive.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Indeed, the macaque is one of the most resourceful
0:26:15 > 0:26:17and adaptable of all monkeys.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21In one form or another, it lives all over Asia,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25from Afghanistan and India to Ceylon and Java,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and even as far north as Japan.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41Up here, in the Japanese Alps, winters can be very severe indeed,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and the Japanese macaque has developed
0:26:43 > 0:26:45a particularly dense and warm fur.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04None of them hibernate, so they need to gather food every day.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07And, at times like this, they have no alternative
0:27:07 > 0:27:09but to burrow through the snow in search of it.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33One population, however, has discovered
0:27:33 > 0:27:36a most remarkable way of keeping themselves warm.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46These are volcanic springs.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50The monkeys moved into this area for the first time only a few years ago.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53And one group of them quickly discovered you could get some relief
0:27:53 > 0:27:55from blizzards and the worst of the cold
0:27:55 > 0:27:58by sitting all day in a hot bath.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Unfortunately, though, there's no food to be found here,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44so they have to come out sometimes,
0:28:44 > 0:28:46and then it must be horribly chilly.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Macaques live in many parts of Japan.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00And one population of them has become famous all over the world
0:29:00 > 0:29:03for their inventiveness.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07These live on a tiny offshore island called Koshima.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09They're an isolated troop,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13and they've made some remarkable changes in their behaviour.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15For a long time people used to think that
0:29:15 > 0:29:20the way in which creatures like these feed is largely instinctive.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24But then, in 1952, scientists came to this island,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27and in order to entice the monkeys out into the open
0:29:27 > 0:29:29so that they could observe them more closely,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31they started offering them...
0:29:31 > 0:29:33THE MACAQUE SHRIEKS
0:29:33 > 0:29:35..sweet potatoes.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Sweet potatoes, like that.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45After about a year, a young female called Imo
0:29:45 > 0:29:47began to take her roots down to a pool
0:29:47 > 0:29:50and wash off the sand and mud before eating them.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Within a few weeks, friends and family, including her mother,
0:29:54 > 0:29:55were copying her.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57The habit spread and, ten years later,
0:29:57 > 0:30:03almost all the monkeys on the island habitually wash their sweet potatoes.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Then a new variation arose.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Instead of using fresh water,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14the monkeys took the roots down to the sea and washed them there,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16even when they were clean already.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20Perhaps they simply liked salt on their potatoes.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Only the very old didn't adopt the new customs.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25The young were quick to learn.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And the fact that babies travelled on their mothers' back,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31meant that they saw exactly what she was doing at all times,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35an unexpected benefit of having grasping hands.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Then the scientists changed the diet to unhusked rice.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41They wanted to keep the monkeys in one place
0:30:41 > 0:30:43so that they could observe them
0:30:43 > 0:30:45and they reckoned it would take them a long time
0:30:45 > 0:30:47to pick out the rice from the sand,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49but they'd reckoned without Imo.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52She grabbed handfuls of rice and sand together
0:30:52 > 0:30:55and threw the whole lot into the water.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59The sand sank, the rice floated, and she quickly skimmed it off.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01And, once again, the habit spread.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12This ability and, indeed, readiness
0:31:12 > 0:31:16to copy and learn from your contemporaries and your elders
0:31:16 > 0:31:20results in the community having shared skills, shared knowledge,
0:31:20 > 0:31:25shared ways of doing things, having, in fact, a shared culture.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28The word, of course, is normally used for human societies,
0:31:28 > 0:31:30but there's no reason, in principle,
0:31:30 > 0:31:32why it shouldn't be applied to monkeys as well.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37And what this troop of monkeys have done is to develop a simple culture.
0:32:01 > 0:32:02Walking on your hind legs
0:32:02 > 0:32:06is still very much a gymnastic trick for these creatures.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Monkeys are essentially four-footed animals.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13There is one group of the primates that is, by and large, two-legged.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15And, to see how they arose,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18we have to go back to the tropical rainforests of the Old World.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Here, in the treetops of the jungles of the Far East,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39monkeys developed that specialised in eating leaves and blossoms,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42just like the howlers of South America.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51The silver leaf monkey is one of them.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54It's particularly unusual in that it's one of the few primates
0:32:54 > 0:32:58whose young are totally different in colour from their parents.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07This is just about the biggest totally tree-living monkey in Asia,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10and it's still a considerable gymnast.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29But some primates here have grown even bigger.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32These heavyweights didn't solve their climbing problems
0:33:32 > 0:33:34with a grasping tail.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Instead of running along the top of branches,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39they took to swinging beneath them by their arms,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and they lost their tails altogether.
0:33:42 > 0:33:43These are the apes.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49The big ape of Borneo is the orang-utan.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Its toes have just as powerful a grip as its fingers.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55In fact, you might, with justice, call it four-handed.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58They're too big to jump about
0:33:58 > 0:34:01and seldom let go with more than two limbs at a time.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04They move across space by using their weight
0:34:04 > 0:34:08and making a tree or vine sway in the direction that they want to go.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18The males sometimes grow so enormous
0:34:18 > 0:34:20that the thinner branches won't hold them at all.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23They have to get from one tree to another
0:34:23 > 0:34:26by descending and shambling across the ground.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Increase in size may have been the stimulus
0:34:35 > 0:34:37to develop a swinging way of getting around.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40But, having developed it, one ape, the gibbon,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42exploited the new technique to its limit
0:34:42 > 0:34:45by becoming smaller again.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48The gibbon's arms are greatly lengthened and so are its fingers,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50so that its hands have become hooks
0:34:50 > 0:34:54that can be quickly latched onto a branch and off again.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58With such limbs,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01the gibbons have become the most exuberant and daring of acrobats
0:35:01 > 0:35:03to be found anywhere.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07THE GIBBONS WHOOP AND CRY
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Such spectacular performances do, however, have risks.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Untested branches can break,
0:35:40 > 0:35:44and, in fact, a third of all gibbon skeletons that have been examined
0:35:44 > 0:35:45show signs of fractures.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08There's one ape, however, that spends nearly all its time on the ground.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10It lives here, 10,000 feet up,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14on the flanks of the volcanoes of Central Africa
0:36:14 > 0:36:17on the borders of Rwanda and Zaire.
0:36:17 > 0:36:22It's the biggest of all the apes, the shyest, one of the rarest
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and, until recently, one of the least-known.
0:36:25 > 0:36:26The gorilla.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30The group of gorillas that lives here
0:36:30 > 0:36:32has been studied by scientists for several years
0:36:32 > 0:36:35and has become sufficiently accustomed to human beings
0:36:35 > 0:36:38to allow you to approach quite close.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48But you have to behave properly,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51and you mustn't conceal yourself too well.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54If you appeared close to them and took them by surprise,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57then they would almost certainly charge.
0:36:57 > 0:36:58DEEP GRUNTING
0:37:05 > 0:37:09There's a lookout sitting on that tree, and he's already seen me.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17THE GORILLA GRUNTS
0:38:06 > 0:38:11WHISPERING: There is more meaning and mutual understanding
0:38:11 > 0:38:15in exchanging a glance with a gorilla...
0:38:17 > 0:38:18..than any other animal I know.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22We're so similar.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28Their sight, their hearing, their sense of smell
0:38:28 > 0:38:30are so similar to ours
0:38:30 > 0:38:33that we see the world in the same way as they do.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39They live in the same sort of social groups,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42largely permanent family relationships.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46They walk around on the ground as we do, though they're...
0:38:47 > 0:38:49HOLLOW THUDS
0:38:49 > 0:38:51..immensely more powerful than we are.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54And so, if there were a possibility of...
0:38:55 > 0:38:59..escaping the human condition and living imaginatively...
0:39:02 > 0:39:03HE GROWLS SOFTLY
0:39:04 > 0:39:06..in another creature's world...
0:39:08 > 0:39:09..it must be with the gorilla.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16And yet, as I sit here, surrounded by this...
0:39:17 > 0:39:19trusting gorilla family...
0:39:21 > 0:39:26They're gentle...placid creatures.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31The boss of the group is that silverback male.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36The rest are adult females with their young sons and daughters.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39And this is how they spend most of their time,
0:39:39 > 0:39:42lounging on the ground, grooming one another.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02The male is an enormously powerful creature,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06but he only uses his strength...
0:40:06 > 0:40:10when he is actually protecting his own family
0:40:10 > 0:40:12from a marauding male from another group.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17And it's very, very rare
0:40:17 > 0:40:21that there is any violence within the group.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26So it seems really very unfair
0:40:26 > 0:40:29that man should have chosen the gorilla
0:40:29 > 0:40:34to symbolise all that is aggressive and violent
0:40:34 > 0:40:38when that's the one thing the gorilla is not, and that we are.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54That grasping, manipulative hand has now become something more,
0:40:54 > 0:40:59an instrument with which to explore and investigate.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02The fingers can delicately revolve a small object
0:41:02 > 0:41:04and investigate it from every angle.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07They can feel not only its shape, but its texture,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09for the fingers, since they're no longer required
0:41:09 > 0:41:12to be put flat on the ground in support of the body,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14have sensitive pads at the end,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18covered with tiny ridges of skin to enhance the sense of touch.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20Every gorilla, in fact,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23has its own unique fingerprints, just as we have.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42The gorilla family spends its day gently grazing,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44and there's plenty of time for play.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09Half-grown blackback males regularly have wrestling matches.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Sometimes they even allow others to join in.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Though they may play games,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56you don't forget that these are the rulers of the forest,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59and the great silverback is king of the whole group.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03He's so enormously strong that he need fear nothing
0:44:03 > 0:44:06except a man armed with a spear or a gun.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13No enemies and an unlimited supply of food
0:44:13 > 0:44:15that can be gathered by stretching out an arm,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19the gorilla has no need to remain particularly agile
0:44:19 > 0:44:21in either body or mind.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28APES MAKE ALARM CALLS
0:44:36 > 0:44:38There is one other ape living in these forests.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Whereas a gorilla lives on, perhaps,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48a couple of dozen different kinds of plants,
0:44:48 > 0:44:53this ape eats the leaves of over 200.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58And it not only eats leaves, it eats bark, blossoms, fruit,
0:44:58 > 0:45:04and, as well as that, termites and ants and honey,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08birds' eggs, birds, and even the flesh of small mammals.
0:45:08 > 0:45:09And in order to do that,
0:45:09 > 0:45:14you need a very nimble mind, an inquisitive disposition,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19and that is exactly what these chimpanzees have got.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Chimps spend a considerable amount of time on the ground,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39but they've not become so adapted to it as the gorilla.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42The gorilla's foot has lost much of its grasp.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48A chimp's is still almost as dexterous as its hand.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59They're still small enough to go up into the trees
0:45:59 > 0:46:01to gather fruit and leaves,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04and they also spend the night up there, where it's safer.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14Every evening, they make a bed for themselves -
0:46:14 > 0:46:18a springy platform constructed by bending over the ends of branches.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42They live in large groups, sometimes up to 50 strong.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45And they need to recognise one another as individuals.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49Lemurs do this by making distinctive scent marks.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Chimps, with less sensitive noses, do it by sight.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58So, like us, they have very different and immediately recognisable faces.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12The most abiding relationships within the group
0:47:12 > 0:47:14are between mother and young.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17A baby will remain clinging to its mother, or close by her,
0:47:17 > 0:47:19for at least five years.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24So the wisdom and experience of the community, its culture,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27is passed on this way from one generation to another.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29The skills of motherhood, for example,
0:47:29 > 0:47:34are learned by a daughter watching her mother handling a new baby.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37So if a young female chimp is taken into captivity
0:47:37 > 0:47:39and deprived of that experience,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42she will not know how to suckle her own babe and has to be shown.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Friendships are made and relationships sustained
0:47:51 > 0:47:53throughout the group by grooming.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56What started as a simple act of toilet
0:47:56 > 0:48:00has now become the most potent form of social bonding within the group.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Every individual seems to enjoy it enormously.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09An adult returning to the group after having strayed away for some days
0:48:09 > 0:48:13is greeted with an ecstatic bout of grooming by friends.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Grooming like this has been a crucial influence
0:48:25 > 0:48:27in the development of chimp behaviour.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31It starts when the newly-born babe is cleaned by its mother.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33For several years, the warm body of the mother
0:48:33 > 0:48:36represents comfort and security.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40And, as he becomes more independent, he runs back to her for that comfort
0:48:40 > 0:48:42when things go wrong or he's frightened.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45He still gets a similar pleasure when he's full-grown
0:48:45 > 0:48:47with these long sessions of grooming,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51that may go on for a couple of hours at a time.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54A junior group member of the group will present himself for grooming
0:48:54 > 0:48:56as an act of submission.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59A dominant individual will accept it as a tribute.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Their agile fingers have allowed chimps
0:49:53 > 0:49:56to make one further and highly important development.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03This youngster is collecting one of his favourite foods, tree termites,
0:50:03 > 0:50:05winkling them out of a hole with a stick
0:50:05 > 0:50:08that he's specially cut and trimmed for the purpose.
0:50:08 > 0:50:09It's a simple tool.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17So chimpanzees live rich and varied lives.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20They're members of a complex social group
0:50:20 > 0:50:22with all the excitements that involves.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24THEY CRY OUT
0:50:27 > 0:50:30They have the most extensive vocabulary of sounds of any animal,
0:50:30 > 0:50:31apart from man.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35They make tools, and they have an unquenchable curiosity,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39testing everything to find out how it moves, how it bends,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43what it feels like, above all, what it tastes like.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53This ability, indeed willingness,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57to experiment with different kinds of foods
0:50:57 > 0:51:02means that chimpanzees can not only live in forests like these,
0:51:02 > 0:51:08but can venture out into more open country, into savannahs.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13And once there, they can find not only leaves, but meat.
0:51:13 > 0:51:19That move into open country was first made about 15 million years ago
0:51:19 > 0:51:23by another primate, one of the very early ones.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26It found, when it got there, that the very talents
0:51:26 > 0:51:30that it had developed in the forest for moving around in the trees
0:51:30 > 0:51:33were very useful out on the plains.
0:51:33 > 0:51:39The stereoscopic eyes, which enabled it to see game in the far distance,
0:51:39 > 0:51:40the manipulative hands,
0:51:40 > 0:51:45which enabled it to use not just tools, but weapons.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47In fact, it became a hunter,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50and that early primate was man's ancestor.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Chimps are rather conservative cousins,
0:51:56 > 0:52:00removed by about 15 million years.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Nonetheless, we both share many characteristics
0:52:03 > 0:52:05in our bodies and behaviour,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08that are the common inheritance from the ancient creatures
0:52:08 > 0:52:11that once spent all their lives in the trees.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd